Webcam-related child sexual abuse, an emerging crime of the 21st century, involves perpetrators using digital media to commit offenses. Adequate amendments to substantive criminal and procedural criminal laws are the means to tackling such crime. Sweetie 2.0 is an artificial intelligence (AI) tool for addressing webcam-related child sexual abuse; however, its legality is still under question. This book is an attempt to address this issue.

The book consists of 12 research papers in the form of chapters. Chapter 1 details different aspects of the tool’s legality, covering substantive criminal law, criminal procedural law, digital forensics, jurisdictional concerns, and the effective and legitimate use of Sweetie. Chapter 2 introduces online perpetrators, their characteristics and types, and pathway models. Chapter 3 provides an overview of the Sweetie 2.0 platform, including the 3D avatar, the architectural design and build, its uses, and identifying persons of interest. Chapter 4 discusses substantive and procedural criminal laws in combating webcam-related child sexual abuse in Australia, as well as effective legal provisions for implementing Sweetie 2.0.

Chapter 5 extends the lawful use of Sweetie 2.0 for collecting data using an avatar under Belgian criminal procedure; the authors also discuss its consistency with human rights laws. Chapter 6 reports the adequacy and limitations of using AI in a Croatian criminal law framework involving webcam-related sex crime investigations and prosecutions. Chapter 7 focuses on Sweetie 2.0 operations in accordance with the law in England and Wales, and chapter 8 focuses on the Estonian code of criminal procedure when implementing Sweetie 2.0 data in webcam-related child sexual abuse investigations and prosecutions.

Chapter 9 questions the implementation of Sweetie 2.0 (and similar projects) in light of Israeli constitutional law and human rights considerations. Chapter 10 exemplifies the Dutch Computer Crime Act III’s substantive legal framework in combating webcam-related child sexual abuse, and raises “the legality of using Sweetie as an investigative power.” Chapter 11 examines criminal law in the Philippines that restricts the use of Sweetie 2.0 as an investigative tool for webcam-related child sexual abuse offenses such as “cybersex, attempted cybersex, grooming, and luring.” An intelligent study presented in chapter 12 illustrates “the legality of Sweetie 2.0 under [US] law,” and extends to recommendations about Sweetie 2.0 implementations from fully automated to a semi-supervised bot.

The book is an interesting read for academics, researchers, professionals, and investigators working in the area of webcam-related child sexual abuse crime investigations. Analyses of both substantive and procedural laws of several countries in implementing Sweetie 2.0 make reading this book worthwhile.